Cry Witch!

The polished wood gleams in the glow of flickering candles. It's nighttime, and little moonlight breaks through the circular window panes in their cream-colored frames.

Several dozen visitors have gathered in the courtroom of Colonial Williamsburg's dull-red brick Capitol building to serve as the jury in a recreated trial of Grace Sherwood, the "Virginia witch". In the dimness, their 21st-century garb is slightly shrouded, and the atmosphere seems at least a little like 1706.

A midwife who sometimes sported pants, Mrs. Sherwood did not remarry after her husband's death in 1701. She was tried several times on charges like bewitching her neighbors' crops. Then in 1706, a local farmer named Luke Hill accused the 46-year-old of practicing witchcraft and thus causing his wife to miscarry. On July 10 of that year, Mrs. Sherwood's hands were tied, and she was thrown from a boat into the Lynnhaven River. Able to swim, Mrs. Sherwood untied her hands and rose to the surface--thus proving that she was a witch. (Drowning would have established her innocence.) Court records indicate that she spent seven or eight years in gaol as punishment.

Colonial Williamsburg's mock murder trial takes place after this water test. Because she's charged with a capital crime, the trial takes place in the Capitol, presided over by the Royal Governor. Her water test failure is presented as evidence of her guilt, as is the statement that her devil's marks (birthmarks) did not bleed when punctured and testimony that she never takes Communion. Mr. Hill testifies that, after Mrs. Sherwood visited his farm, his "pigs began to act peculiar-like and die".

Unfortunately for Mrs. Sherwood, defendants cannot be sworn, and anything she says in her own defense cannot be counted as evidence. On the other hand, there is no protection from self-incrimination. There is neither the presumption of innocence nor the recognition of the (derived) right to face one's accuser. When the prosecutor declares that Mrs. Hill, appearing as a witness, is "afraid to be in the same room as the witch", the Governor-judge directs Mrs. Sherwood not to look at Mrs. Hill and assures the witness that God will protect her.

Despite the fact that this trial mocked fundamental principles of modern Western justice, science, and common sense, Mrs. Sherwood was convicted 44-13 by the jury and sentenced to hang. (Your humble blogger was among the 13.) According to a CW guide, juries convict Mrs. Sherwood in about 80 percent of the mock trials. She is, however, entitled to appeal to the Governor.

In real life, history suggests that Mrs. Sherwood returned to her farm after serving her time in gaol and lived there until her death c. 1740. England's last law against witchcraft was repealed in 1951. On July 10, 2006, Governor Tim Kaine informally pardoned Mrs. Sherwood.

BREAKING: Scozzafava Out!

My friend Stacy McCain is reporting that Dede Scozzafava, the GOP's anointed liberal in the special election in New York's 23rd congressional district, has dropped out of the race! Poll after poll has recently shown Ms. Scozzafava badly trailing Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. This is a stunning--and much-deserved--rebuke to the Party of Bush and a bright light in the conservative renaissance. Way to go, New York conservatives!!

"Take AIM" Today

In the wake of my speech to Accuracy In Academia's conservative university earlier this month, I'm slotted to chat about Slaying Leviathan on "Take AIM", the blogtalkradio program of AIA's parent organization, Accuracy In Media, this morning at 11:30 (EST). Please tune in!

Robert Reich: "We're Gonna Let You Die"

Blogs United Registration Open

Virginia's next Blogs United conference is scheduled for November 21 at Christopher Newport University in Hampton Roads. The last Blogs United conference, in 2007, was lots of fun, and this November's promises more of the same. You can register here for $15.00.

This Week on WGGRN

My friend Chad Everson, whom I met at last year's fabulous SamSphere Chicago, has started WGGRN, a new conservative talk radio network. I had the pleasure of appearing on his BlogTalkRadio show last year during the bail-out fight, and I'm happy to write that he's planning to air an interview with me about Slaying Leviathan this week on Monday (today!) at 11 a.m. CST, Wednesday at 10 a.m. CST, and Friday at 9 a.m. CST on the new WGGRN. Please tune in. The best thing about SamSphere is the way that it has brought liberty-loving bloggers together, so if our interview sounds more like a chat between friends, that's because it is!

War in the West

America is a nation built on the foundation of great ideas. But great ideas can be difficult to live out. This is true today, as we move further and further from the time when ideas like individual liberty and limited government were debated and developed from Congresses to coffeehouses. But it was also true then. As the Revolutionary War raged on, the ideals which justified our break with Britain continued to undergo an awkward refining process, as subjects-turned-citizens strove to live them in practical ways.

One of the things that Colonial Williamsburg does exceptionally well is to explore the tension between ideas and practices. In the Revolutionary City skit "War in the West", Henry Hamilton, the royal governor of Detroit, has been captured and is being held in the Williamsburg Gaol. Though he was rumored to have offerred bounties to his Indian allies for the scalps of Americans, the charges against the hated "Hair Buyer" are vague, and he has not been allowed access to any evidence against himself. On June 18, 1779, he points out ways that the Virginians' treatment of him violate the very ideals according to which they justify their war for independence.

Government v. Prosperity

Accuracy In Academia has posted last week's talk about my book. I hope you find it valuable.

Cuccinelli "Money Bomb"

My disgust with the Party of Bush is no secret. But in a political party overrun with misguided opportunists, there remain a few principled conservative politicians. State Senator Ken Cuccinelli, the Republican nominee for Attorney General of Virginia, is one such conservative. Sen. Cuccinelli has been an effective force in protecting the natural right to property, and seems bright and thoughtful enough to understand its philosophical foundations, making him a refreshing rarity in today's GOP.

Today, Sen. Cuccinelli's campaign is holding a "money bomb", a one-day online fundraiser. If you can, please click here to contribute today and help return both the Republican Party and the Commonwealth of Virginia to their conservative roots. Thank you.

"Slaying Leviathan" Events on Thursday

Thursday promises to be a good day for Slaying Leviathan.

I start the day with a 6 a.m. (PST) appearance on KVI 570 AM's Kirby Wilbur Show in Seattle. If you're not in Washington state, you can listen online here.

Then at 6 p.m. (EST), my fabulous former employer, Accuracy In Academia, is hosting an "Author's Night" for me at Armand's Pizza on Capitol Hill. If you're in the area, I hope you can come.

With government foolishly trying to plunder America's way back to prosperity, I'm thankful for these opportunities to contribute to our national discussion about the moral hazards of wealth redistribution.

Defending the American Dream

A year has passed since former President George Bush XLIII, former treasury czar Hank Paulson, and their band of plunderers in Congress foisted the unConstitutional bank bail-out on an unwilling American public. And it has been the most encouraging year I can remember since Ronald Reagan restored economic prosperity, brought Soviet tyranny to its knees, and renewed American optimism. Despite our wanna-be overlords' naked pandering to consumerism, the American people vehemently and vociferously opposed the effort to reward irresponsible banks and borrowers on the backs of hard-working tax-payers. But that was only the beginning. We booted many of the bums out of Congress. We've held tea parties across the country, and the astonishingly large 9/12 rally at the Capitol, and we've fought Big Brother at town hall meetings. And the tide is turning: Six months ago, Obama-"care" looked like an inevitability, but now opposition is high and getting higher, and the Keystone Kourtiers in the White House (reeling from the greatest Olympic humiliation since 1980) don't know what hit them.

In this hopeful environment, about 2,000 free-market activists gathered here in Virginia at Americans for Prosperity's annual Defending the American Dream Summit, hard-working tax-payers who gave up a weekend to come from around the country at their own expense to protest federal molly-coddling, learn new strategies for defeating it, and simply encourage one another in the long and glorious battle for economic freedom.

One special highlight for me was seeing my SamSphere friend Bob Weeks receive AFP's Blogger of the Year award; he follows Maggie Thurber, also of SamSphere, who won the award last year. SamSphere also came through for me personally, yet again, when Steve Eggleston suggested that Ed Morrissey interview me about Slaying Leviathan for Hot Air. And of course, it was great just to catch up with so many other SamSphere friends, including Emily Zanotti, Virginia's own Krystle Weeks, Bill Smith (and his charming wife Lois), and AFP's Erik Telford. Y'all are good friends and great patriots, and it's a privilege to fight this battle with you.